Advice sought on teaching self defence to the elderly

I've got a contract by the local active retirement group to teach self defence to them-a six week course. Ages 65-80 plus! I'm giving them three talks then will sign up thise that want it for three one hour classes. I plan to do Tony Blaur stuff with them (flinch responses and frames)-SPEAR system-just wandered if any of you guys could offer me some advice on how to proceed with the physical training part-note I have protective jackets, helmets and gloves.

Lets face it the older we get the more of a target we become and I regularly get guys in their mid to late sixties coming to training- the motive being they've suffered a mugging or two-sometime even at the hands of women.

What is the best physical skills we can pass on to our fathers and grandfathers? I'm okay with the theory part-though any helpful info. resources gladly recieved-particularly regarding "Home security".

the incidence of osteoporosis (weak/brittle bones) is quite high in western cultures in this age group so striking, twisting and falling presents it's own problems.

as Tau states, the risk of bleeding in the brain is considerable. brains shrink a little and there tends to be less supporting fluid around the brain. blood vessels become more fragile and many are on blood thinners that pre-dispose them to bleeding (particularly those with irregular heart rhythms and/or cardiac valve surgery. impact therefore is probably best avoided

balance, gait, posture and mobility are often compromised for a host of reasons, so simplicity of movement would seem sensible.

again, I agree with Tau in that prevention and awareness are probably the keys for this age group with more rigorous methods suited only to a select bunch within this group I would think.

a finger in the eye works pretty well though whatever age you are...in my humble opinion.

a finger in the eye works pretty well though whatever age you are...in my humble opinion.

I agree with everything you said (especially about posture and movement, which I hadn't considered) apart from this. Corneal abrasions aren't all that serious and in my experience aren't as debilitating as you would expect. The eye is also pretty well protected.

Fair enough Tau, although I was talking about a finger IN the eye...with commitment and vigour...only when required and justified of course!

and yes Sebastian B, i think wariness is a vulnerable person's friend. the trick is to not let it control your life, even for the elderly.

I saw a TV ad a while ago selling home security systems. clearly they were targeting the elderly, and if you believed the hype, EVERY person knocking on their front door was going to try to harm them or take advantage of them...sad and dissapointing to be sure but clearly trying to capitalise on their sense of vulnerability...

Just to make sure, with mistrustfulness or "sixth sense" I don´t mean, that you shouldn´t trust anybody. But it´s scientific proved, that you lose a sense for the intentions or purposes of another person. Scientists made a simple test to check this. They let a person lie to older persons and to younger persons. Then they asked the subjects, if they felt comfortable during the conversation. Over the half of the younger persons said, that they had a bad feeling, but only a quarter of the elder.

Just to make sure, with mistrustfulness or "sixth sense" I don´t mean, that you shouldn´t trust anybody. But it´s scientific proved, that you lose a sense for the intentions or purposes of another person. Scientists made a simple test to check this. They let a person lie to older persons and to younger persons. Then they asked the subjects, if they felt comfortable during the conversation. Over the half of the younger persons said, that they had a bad feeling, but only a quarter of the elder.